Join me on my delicious journey revisiting American home cooking in the era before convenience foods became popular (1919 to 1955), as I bake and cook from old cookbooks and recipe cards of home cooks purchased at estate sales in Akron, Ohio, and other exotic locations.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Popover Magic on Sunday Morning

While DH was at yoga this morning, I decided to whip up some popovers in order to add back all the calories he burned in the vinyasa class. I'd never made them before, despite the fact that I'd bought a c. 1940s cast iron popover pan years ago. But I have eaten them -- twice. Once at Jordan Pond House, a restaurant in Acadia National Park in Maine, and again at New York City's Popover Cafe -- both restaurants specialize in this magical treat.

How I wish I had made a time-lapse movie of these in the oven. For within about 30 minutes, they went from this:

to this:

These were pretty good, kind of eggy-tasting and absolutely perfect with strawberry jam. They're best eaten hot from the oven, as they tend to deflate as time goes on. (And, in attempt to deflate my popover-filled belly, I think I'll join DH at yoga tomorrow morning.)

Here's the recipe I used from the c. 1951 Settlement Cookbook. It couldn't be easier and these very common ingredients provide quite an impressive and entertaining show.

Follow by Email

Followers

Search This Blog

About Me

I love to bake, especially from the treasured recipes of home cooks, the kind of recipes typed or hand-written on index cards, or carefully pasted in scrapbooks. I have a large collection of these, gathered over the years from flea markets, stoop sales and estate sales. These "lost" recipes, with their stains and annotations like "good, from mother's book," provide a window into the past, and one that I'm trying to pry open, one stick of butter at a time!
I'm also investigating Mrs. Grace Osborn of Bay City, Michigan, who published (or probably self-published) a cake book in 1919, instructing women on her (wacky) cake baking methods and encouraging them to bake for recognition and profit, that being one of the few acceptable ways for women to earn money back then. More on her in upcoming posts!